1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of supports and holders for implements, particularly magnetic elements facilitating temporarily securement of personal items to a garment base or the like for storage, safekeeping and easy access as needed.
2. Description of Related Art
Various alternatives currently exist for transporting and keeping a user's personal implements (such as eyewear and pens) on her/his person, so that they are readily available when needed. One of the most common methods of transport is the use of the shirt or pants pocket, but the implements tend to fall out or become bent as will be described below. A flexible open-ended case or pocket protector, sometimes equipped with a pocket clip, is widely used to overcome this problem. Hinged cases that are fully closed for storage often are not satisfactory either.
For example, eyeglass cases, pen cases and the like are generally bulky and unflattering when carried in a pocket. Besides, materials employed in fabrication of such cases, typically leather or vinyl; do not permit adequate air flow when stored in a pocket, resulting in a user's undesirable heat retention and perspiration. More often than not, the user will choose to avoid a storage case altogether and instead insert pens and unprotected eyeglasses directly into a pocket, if a pocket is available.
A majority of sport shirts, tee shirts, aprons and blouses do not include pockets. The option of carrying a pen or pair of glasses in a pocket associated with the trousers too frequently results in ink-stained fabric or abrasions to the eyeglass lenses imparted by loose change, keys and the like. In addition, eyewear frames too often are subjected to bending or breaking when the user stoops or sits.
The same can be said when a pens and eyewear are carried unprotected and commingled in a purse, handbag or briefcase. Hard-shell, hinged cases are available for protection, but are bulky and demand a significant amount of space. Wearing a pair of eyeglasses tethered or otherwise attached to retainers such as straps, chains or the commonly known “croakies” does offer convenience, but may also be perceived as an annoyance or tacky. As an example, attention is directed to Barison's U.S. Pat. No. 5,654,787 showing a portable securement device in the form of eyeglasses temple mounted clips which appear to slide over the ends of the temples.
Over the years, magnets have been employed as portable securement devices to hold jewelry, pins or brooches on garments. For example, Borthwick's U.S. Pat. No. 1,416,195 shows an early use of a magnet to secure a corsage in place without damaging garment fabric. Unfortunately, securement parts are subject to being lost.
More recently the U.S. Pat. No. 6,282,760 issued to Mars shows a brooch having a magnet embedded therein so as to be held against clothing by internally mounted magnetic element. Another patent issued to Mars, U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,451, describes a jewelry holder for non-invasive attachment to a garment where paired magnets grip fabric therebetween so as to hold the jewelry in place. One magnet of the pair includes a passage for a jewelry pin serving to hold the jewelry thereto. Here, too, parts may be easily displaced or lost.
Items such as pencils and pens also have been altered or equipped so as to render them securable through the use of magnets. Krauthamer's U.S. Pat. No. 3,178,784 teaches a portable magnetic securement system mounted on a pencil and attached to removable base in the form of a sheet metal strip mounted on clothing pocket. Mcintosh's U.S. Pat. No. 3,159,372 presents another magnetic pencil holder where the magnetic element has a slot for pencils and the like and attaches, for example, to a metal frame of a table. These ancillary devices are obtrusive and unattractive.
Cook illustrates yet another portable securement device for holding a pencil on a support which is magnetically held to a base. See Cook's U.S. Pat. No. 2,964,812. A portable securement system in the form of a sleeve mounted on a pencil is taught by Markowitz (U.S. Pat. No. 2,644,212), where the sleeve includes a magnet embedded therein and a cooperative magnet holder element clips to a garment. Cook's device also is obtrusive and unattractive.
Rielo's U.S. Pat. No. 5,895,018 shows a holder for magnetically supporting lightweight articles of thin pliable material (such as kitchen towels) to a magnetic surface. Rielo employs a pair of magnet-holding fastening plates attached so as to retain the pliable material therebetween for subsequent placement against the magnetic surface. Similarly, Wiln's U.S. Pat. No. 2,641,793 presents a potholder with an embedded magnet for temporary storage on metal support. Rielo and Wiln either damage or severely alter the articles to which their devices are applied.
A number of patented devices addresses the need for safely and conveniently storing eyeglasses (as well as other items) when not in use. For instance, the patent granted to Lawrence et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,904,710, discloses apparatus for securing an object to a support utilizing magnetic elements. As an example, Lawrence et al. show a pair of spectacles including a magnet disc secured by a narrow flexible loop to a temple of the spectacles. The prominent and highly visible magnet disc of Lawrence et al. is shown altered to include decorative indicia or image on its outer surface. The user may temporarily store the folded spectacles by placing them on ferrous, magnetic surfaces such as a refrigerator door. There is no attempt to make the securement system subtle or blended into the spectacle temple.
Dietz, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,568,805, depicts magnetic elements affixed at the midpoints of eyeglasses temple bars such that the magnetic elements are aligned when folded or closed for storage. When folded together, the magnets are attracted to each other and form a clamp to temporarily secure folded eyeglasses temples onto clothing fabric. The magnetic elements are secured to the temple bars in a variety of ways. Their constant magnetic attraction when folded may be found to be annoying to the user and less than satisfactory. Dietz offers little more than the widespread method of hanging the eyeglasses temple bar in a pocket or shirt button placard.
Schleger et al. illustrates eyeglasses temple bars with tips that incorporate magnet elements as presented in U.S. Pat. No. 6,375,324. These magnet elements, rather than relating to temporary storage or holding of the eyeglasses when not being born, are for health-related treatment and are equally spaced bio-magnets providing a magnetic field to the wearer's head. There appears to be no mention of eyeglasses storage as far as Applicant can discern.
Another eyewear holder is taught by Rivkin, U.S. Pat. No. 6,367,126, wherein two magnets are affixed outside the fabric of a wearer's clothing. These two magnets are held in place by a magnetically saturable keeper plate just inside the fabric. A bridge connection extended between the magnets forms a loop through which eyeglasses temple bar may be inserted for temporary storage. This device is decidedly bulky and obtrusive.
In the disclosure of Dupraz et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,168,237, an apparatus is described for facilitating temporary storage of eyeglasses on a non-ferrous base. At least one magnetic element is associated with the eyeglasses frame by gluing, screwing, crimping or the like. For example, the magnetic element can be forced into a hole (e.g., a through-hole or blind-hole) provided in any of the components of the frame. When it is desirable to store eyeglasses to a support base of non-ferrous material such as a fabric garment, aluminum bicycle frame or car dashboard, a magnetic keeper base may be provided. Ferrous metal (magnetically attracted material) and magnet components may be reversed in application as desired. The holding devices of Dupraz et al. are prominent and obtrusive, and the fabric mount is invasively damaging.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,039,173 issued to Crow presents another method of temporarily supporting eyeglasses when not in use. Crow's holder may be fixed, as by taping, to a storage point such as a computer monitor or vehicle dashboard. The holder includes a conduit into which a free end one temple bar or stem may be inserted for securement. Crow's device is purposely obtrusive and would not readily adapt to use with garments.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,845,369 granted to Dunchock presents a holder in the form of a pin structure mounted on clothing fabric and including a loop through which an eyeglasses temple bar may be inserted for temporary storage. White's U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,613 illustrates and describes a holder for eyeglasses wherein the holder is to be positioned in a garment pocket. Dunchock's device is invasive and fabric damaging.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,699,990 issued to Seach presents a mounting base for temporarily holding eyeglasses wherein the base includes a space accommodating an eyeglasses temple stem. Wolov, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,366,070, illustrates a device for securing a pen to a pen securement area utilizing hook and loop fasteners.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,278,591 issued to Trotter shows a spectacle temple stem holder clip for securement of the spectacles within a pocket. Trotter's accessory kit further includes a tether line to permit remote mounting of the eyeglasses as well as a fiber optic cable to direct illumination forwardly of Trotter's eyeglasses framework. Amani's U.S. Pat. No. 4,325,504 presents a tubular sleeve for a user's wrist, wherein the sleeve is formed to include a magnet for retaining magnetically holds ferrous elements in wrist-mounted container
U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,166 issued to Voelker presents another obtrusive eyewear holder having a hole for encircling a rearview mirror post on an automobile. The holder further includes a pair of holes permitting insertion therethrough of the temple piece of an eyeglasses frame. In lieu of the hole for encircling a mirror post, an alternative embodiment includes a magnet for securing the holder to a magnetic base.
With general reference to the prior art as discussed hereabove, it is apparent that a market exists for an innovative securement system that would serve to safely and conveniently store items such as eyewear, pens, pencils and so forth, and do so in a dependable, non-invasive, aesthetic and unobtrusive manner. The prior art, while trying to solve this problem, fails for a variety of reasons.
Prior art devices are seen in many cases as inappropriate for portable personal use and non-adaptable for use in association with clothing. Those that are adapted to personal portability are obtrusive and unfashionable in appearance or deleterious to garment fabric when utilized. Further, it is important that the system be portable and easily put into use as required. Moreover, it is crucial that use of securement system avoid adverse impact on fabrics with which it may be associated or utilized.
The problem takes on new dimensions with an aging demographic, particularly with respect to vast population growth among people with increasing need for reading glasses. What is needed is a simple, easy to use securement system or docking device that can employ the recently developed high-strength magnet devices for storing implements such as eyewear, pens and so forth directly to a garment for ready access. The system should be fashionably subtle, yet consistently dependable. The securement system should be essentially invisible to the casual observer.
It will become apparent from reading the present disclosure that Applicant's novel invention resolves the disadvantages inherent with pre-existing alternatives and methodologies. The present invention further affords greater convenience and economy of motion. With the use of the inventive portable securement system to be described, the simple act of depositing implements such as pens or a pair of glasses on one's clothing (or other convenient location) takes less effort than stowing them away or setting them down in the first place.